The present invention relates to image forming apparatuses, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus that is provided with a sorter having a plurality of bin trays and discharges a printed sheet while sorting the sheet into any of the bin trays.
There has conventionally been a known image forming apparatus having a mail bin mode in which an image is printed on a sheet in a printer section and the printed sheet is discharged while being sorted into a bin tray (designated bin tray) corresponding to the destination of a print job among a plurality of bin trays. In regard to the image forming apparatus of this type, there is a proposed system in which a printed sheet is discharged onto the designated bin tray when the number of pages of the print job is smaller than the capacity of the designated bin tray and a printed sheet is discharged onto another bin tray having a capacity larger than that of the designated bin tray when the number of pages of the print job is greater than the capacity of the designated bin tray (prior art reference of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 7-97125).
However, according to the prior art system, it is sometimes the case where the printed sheet of the print job of a specified destination might be discharged onto a bin tray other than the designated bin tray and the user might forget to take the printed sheet discharged onto the other bin tray. It is also required to check all the bin trays in order to avoid leaving the printed sheet behind. As described above, there is the problem that the ease of use in the mail bin mode is not good in the prior art system.